How (Not) to be Invisible
by fieldofdaseys
Summary: Kotoko sometimes has trouble keeping her invisibility in check. Naoki is more willing to help than he lets on. [Set in the universe of a Superhero AU I'll never write]


He hears her before he sees her, or rather, realizes he _can't _see her. He turns slightly in his chair when the door opens, which is followed by a yelp of pain as she trips over a filing box.

"You know, you're the one that's invisible. Not the things around you," he quips. He wonders, not for the first time, what forces in the universe could possibly see fit to give the loudest, most accident-prone person he's ever met the power of invisibility, though he has to admit it is kind of funny.

"I'm stuck," she answers. She sounds pitiful, on the verge of tears. Naoki ignores the pang in his chest, the urge to reach out and comfort her. He turns back to his computer without a word, knowing that she'll explain further without any prompting on his part. "I've been invisible since this morning," she sniffles. Naoki watches out of the corner of his eye as the papers she'd sent flying when she knocked over the filing box seem to lift themselves back into place before she huffs and gives up, leaving half of them scattered across the floor. Usually, he'd scold her but instead he's quiet. He can hear the shuffling of her feet across the floor as her chair is pushed back and the cushion indents under her weight. "I'm going to be stuck like this forever! Just like that guy I read about!"

There's a thump to his left which Naoki assumes is her letting her head drop to the desk.

"There aren't any cases of anyone going invisible forever." His voice is bored, seemingly unbothered by the idea, but his fingers are already quickly typing keywords into the browser. If she wonders why he knows this, she doesn't comment. He's read plenty on the subject of invisibility. Part of him knows he's pored over the nearly non-existent research for Kotoko's sake but if someone were to call him out on it he'd defend it as mere curiosity.

"There is!" Kotoko argues. Her voice is muffled by the desk.

"Where did you read about it?" Naoki asks, casting an unimpressed look in her general direction. It sounds like the kind of thing she'd read in a trashy magazine or an internet ad no one else would click on. His suspicions are confirmed when she doesn't answer. The only sound he hears is her guiltily tapping her shoes back and forward over the tile floor; he lets a short breath out of his nose and closes the open tab on his computer. "I'll do some research and get back to you," he says, turning his attention back to the project he'd been working on before she'd stumbled in.

"No, Irie-kun, please!" Kotoko whines. Her voice is no longer muffled and he can imagine the dramatic way she'd shot up from the desk in protest. "I can't take it anymore. I went to buy some snacks earlier and an old lady screamed and nearly passed out."

Naoki sighs quietly and turns toward her, placing his elbow on the desk and his chin on the back of his fist. He doesn't bother asking what possessed her to go buy snacks knowing she wasn't exactly in a state to be seen. It's not the first time she's made herself a public nuisance and he doubts it will be the last. However, it does make him consider how it may look to someone passing by his office to see him seemingly talking to air. Most people don't believe in superpowers; they think they're a joke or a hoax and he doesn't have the time or the patience to explain. He's already heard whispers around the hospital about his "personal conversations" and, while it has warded of some of the constant barrage of propositions and flirting, it's emboldened a few of the more shameless ones. With a flick of his wrist he sends a pulse behind the door. It closes with a gentle click. Again, the papers on the floor seem to take on a mind of their own as he moves his wrist this way and that, sliding them on top of each other in a near approximation of how they'd been organized before. When they're neatly back in the box with the lid in place he glances passively in her direction. "Has it happened before?"

Kotoko hums, taking a moment to scan through her memories "Maybe once or twice."

"What did you do to make it stop then?"

"I uh… don't remember," she mutters reluctantly. He doesn't need to see her to know there's a blush spreading prettily across her cheeks.

"Being shy isn't going to help you get back to normal or help me get back to work," he chides. He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. It's one of many indicators he's starting to lose his patience. Kotoko is intimately familiar with all of them.

"It's embarrassing," she protests.

"More embarrassing than nearly giving little old ladies heart attacks?"

"No," Kotoko sighs out. Naoki can hear the pout in her tone.

"Then spit it out."

Kotoko is silent for another beat, Naoki can hear the tapping of her shoes again. Her chair swivels gently back and forward like it's the one nervous. "I think about the things I want to be most present for," she says quietly, "The times I want to be seen."

Naoki waits for her to elaborate, but she doesn't. He taps his fingers one by one over the arm of his chair then sits up straight, adjusting his stark white coat as he does. "It didn't work this time, I assume?"

"No. That's why I came here."

"What do you think about? Are there specific memories? Goals?" Naoki asks. He grabs the notepad and he keeps close by and scribbles down a few notes.

"Um, yeah, memories," she answers.

"Be specific," he grouses, taking that down as well.

"The first time you kissed me."

Her voice is clear then. Confident. Which seems unfair to him considering she'd just rendered him speechless. Generally, that would be preferable, intentional even, but right now he needs to say something_, anything, _so she doesn't catch on to how she's affected him. He clears his throat once, twice, tries to will away the memory of her lips beneath his, the fire in the pit of his stomach that seemed to spread out across his body like he'd been doused in gasoline when she'd whimpered against his mouth. "Anything else?"

"No."

"Just that?"

"Yes. I think maybe the memory has faded too much. It's hard to remember it exactly."

Naoki takes a breath and places his notepad back on the desk and crosses his arms again. He focuses on keeping his voice neutral. "We could try to recreate it," he says. He bets if he could see her right now her eyes would be widened to the size of saucers, her soft, round lips opened to form an expression of disbelief.

"I-Irie-kun that's n-not what I mea-"

He cuts her off. "It's scientific."

"O-okay," she agrees about as easily as he'd expected. Despite himself he fights back a smile.

"Stand up," he orders as he does so himself. He moves so he's standing a couple of feet away from her chair. When he hears her stand he reaches out his arms only to find she's not where she should be. "Kotoko?"

"I'm right here."

"I can't see where 'here' is," Naoki says with a huff. "Just come stand in front of me."

"Okay," Kotoko whispers.

She sounds close. Much closer than she had been. Naoki thinks he can hear her heart beating, pumping wildly in her chest, but realizes after a moment it's his own pulse amplified in his ears. He reaches up again, this time making contact with the back of her hands. He grips them lightly in his own long enough to get his bearings and starts gently trailing up her arms. He's only mildly surprised to find he recognizes the sweater she's wearing. The material is well-worn and soft beneath his fingertips. He squeezes gently when he passes her elbows, keeping his grip slightly tighter as he continues up to her shoulders. He stops when he can feel the gentle slope of her neck against his thumbs and traces lazy circles over the notches of her collar bone. A smirk forms on his lips when he hears her breath hitch.

"You forgot my kiss, huh?" he mutters. He splays his fingers out and moves his hands up so they're on either side of her neck, trailing one thumb over the underside of her jaw and using the other to swipe gently over her bottom lip. She lets out a whimper in response, the same one she'd given him the last time. He would give anything to be able to see her reaction as well as hear it. He leans closer, using the thumb against her lip as a guide. He closes his eyes as his forehead makes contact with her's. He's close enough now that his lips are brushing against the back of his thumb. He can feel her breath, both against the pad of his thumb and against his lips. She shudders when his nose bumps gently against hers and Naoki blinks his eyes open just in time to see her materializing in front of him. It starts around his hands and spreads out from every place they're making contact until she's fully formed in front of him.

He could pull back. He could pretend he hasn't seen anything. Instead, he whispers, "I see you."

Kotoko's eyes open slowly and meet his just as he closes the distance between them. He makes sure it's a kiss she won't forget.


End file.
